Saturday 30 May 2015

Painting with Isabel

Friday was rained off, and it was my turn to do some half-term babysitting whilst my wife went to work. Cue Daddy/daughter painting day!

I chose to complete a couple of Thunderbolt Mountain Orc drummers I had previously started, whilst Isabel (8) chose an old Harlequin miniatures Elf that was probably older than her!

It was only the 4th figure she's painted and I left her to choose her own colours, with just a bit of advice here and there. She decided that he would be a red alien with yellow armour and a blue sword. She even taught me a novel way of blending the paint. When she painted the hilt gold, I caught her blowing on the miniature to "blend it into the blue blade a bit"!
Here he is in all his glory, we're both very pleased with the result.


For my Orcs, I wanted the drummer to be a tough, scarred old Orc with anger management issues, so I painted his wrists with scars as if he's been bound regularly. He has whip scars on his back and for no apparent reason I wanted him to have a scald scar across the left side of his face, chest and thigh. Didn't turn out too bad IISSM!
The poor old chap carrying the drum is as close to green as I'll paint an Orc. I wanted him to be a bit paler and less healthy looking, so the slightest green tinge was called for. 
The drumskin is a wonderfully sculpted dwarf skin with arms, legs and head still present. Lovely!



A lovely day spent painting with my daughter. She wants her own army of the elves, so there will be plenty more to come. 
:)

Friday 29 May 2015

First games of Dragon Rampant

Played a couple of games of Dragon Rampant on Wednesday and thoroughly enjoyed them. Not surprising really considering the similarity to Lion Rampant.

The major change is the inclusion of magic, which Dan has seamlessly added to the rules. There are a few other differences that will make any selection a bit more interesting too, but for obvious reasons I can't write about the rules here.

Didn't manage to get any photos; my phone is still convinced it has no space despite me having a clear out! Luckily, Matt did. They can be found here:
http://mattsgamepage.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/first-games-of-dragon-rampant.html

For the latest news regarding Dragon Rampant, head over to Dan's blog at:
http://merseybooks.blogspot.co.uk/

Tuesday 26 May 2015

...and then there were two.

Finished my second Thunderbolt Mountain Elf tonight. The glue on the base is still wet.
This is another noble, and Tom Meier has given him a lovely haughty expression, so I painted him as a High Elf rather than a Wood  Elf.




Next up is a brace of Orc musicians...

Wednesday 20 May 2015

Dragon Rampant

Unexpected excitement!

My 'contrubutor's copy' of Dragon Rampant arrived in my inbox this evening causing much delight. 

It came during my weekly game with Matt, which was an added pleasure as we both got a copy. Unfortunately, arriving on game night means that we have to wait a whole week before we play it! I suppose it gives us time to print a copy, study it and get an army together.

Lion Rampant was my favourite game from last year, and running it at Salute was probably the gaming highlight of this year so far. Having cut my teeth on fantasy gaming, you may be able to imagine how excited I am by this game.

Dan has given permission to play the game publicly and blog about it, provided we don't share the pdf, naturally.

Hopefully I can get my camera sorted in time for an illustrated write up.

Watch this space...

Monday 18 May 2015

Wood Elf Noble - Oak

Back in the early 80s, I always liked the Ral Partha figures that Citadel used to make under licence. I liked them more than their own sculpts, mostly. I didn't know then that they were all the work of one man. 


When I discovered Thunderbolt Mountain miniatures in the 90s, I was amazed by the detail they got into their little dioramas. I was given two as a birthday present one year and really must get them finished one day.

Later still I saw that Thunderbolt Mountain were making a line of 30mm figures that could have come straight from the pages of Tolkien. So I fell in love for the third time with the work of Tom Meier and bought as much as I could afford; not always easy without a UK distributor.

I have a few now, but have always been too scared to paint them because I knew I couldn't so them justice, particularly the Elves.

I tried some Orcs a while back and was happy with the results, and now I have finally plucked up the courage to paint my first Elf.

I'm pleased with him. 
Wood Elf Noble - Oak. 
The first of many...